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Maid of Honor
"Maid of Honor" is composed of the thirty-third and thirty-fourth episodes of . It originally aired on October 18, 2003. Plot Part I Princess Diana attends an evening party in Paris. Besieged by curious onlookers, she is rescued by Bruce Wayne, who asks for a dance. Diana thanks Bruce for the rescue and as they dance, they get to know each other. When Bruce admits that he is surprised to see a woman like her at a party, she explains that she's decided she needs to get out more and try to have some fun. She returns the question, and he says he never misses a good party, but there is also "some business" in Paris he may have to attend to. They are obviously enjoying each other's company and continue to flirt, when terrorists drop in through the ceiling and seize the young Princess Audrey, heir to the throne of Kaznia. Bruce is about to slip away and assume his secret identity, but finds it unnecessary when Diana rescues Audrey single-handed and takes down the terrorists. Audrey thanks Diana enthusiastically, and invites her to spend the evening with her club-hopping. Audrey explains she's getting married soon and wants to enjoy her last night as a free woman. Later that night, a trio of burglars break into S.T.A.R. Labs's Paris facility to steal a microchip, but Batman appears. He captures one, while the others escape. Batman starts to interrogate the burglar, who sneers in his native language (Kaznian) that Batman can't understand a word he's saying, and he won't tell him anything anyway. Menacingly, Batman closes in, replying in fluent Kaznian that "I can, and you will..." Later, as Diana returns to her hotel, she meets Batman, who informs her that the burglar is a Kaznian special forces officer, part of a team that has been stealing classified weapons technology. Diana confronts Audrey, who swears that neither she nor her father know anything about it. Diana believes her, and apologizes. Audrey says there is nothing to apologize for - they are friends, and Audrey respects that Diana, like herself, has responsibilities that sometimes put her in uncomfortable situations. confronts Vandal Savage.]] At her engagement party, Audrey introduces Diana to her fiancé – Vandal Savage. Diana recalls Savage's involvement in World War II, but he claims to be Vandal Savage III – the grandson of the Nazi-era Savage. He is now administering Kaznia's substantial contribution to an International Space Station. In space, a team of Kaznian operatives boards the space station and takes the crew hostage. In Kaznia, a maidservant poisons the King on Savage's orders, giving the appearance of a paralytic stroke. Hearing the news, Audrey flies home immediately. When Diana hears the news, she flies to intercept their plane and warn Audrey, but is knocked out by a sonic blast from Savage's henchman, Colonel Vox. In Kaznia, Audrey decides that she needs to assume the throne for the good of her country, and as a sign of the Royal Family's stability, announces that her wedding to Savage will take place immediately. Part II .]] Diana awakes in a French farmhouse after her fall. Batman informs her of Audrey's impending nuptials, and Diana flies to Kaznia in a rage, followed by the Batwing. In a fight with Kaznia's military forces, she throws a tank through the wall of the palace chapel just as Audrey is getting married. She is incapacitated by Savage and taken prisoner. Feeling humiliated, Audrey refuses to listen to Diana's warnings. She then lawfully marries Savage. As they dance at a royal reception, Savage confides to her that, though she only married him out of duty, his devotion to her is such that he "wants to give her the whole world" - and may soon be doing just that. Audrey becomes Queen, making Savage de facto ruler of Kaznia. On her wedding night, Audrey wakes to find Savage missing and goes around the castle in search of him. When she finds him, he immediately announces his plan via worldwide broadcast: an orbital rail gun has been mounted on the space station, capable of firing asteroids at Earth with pinpoint accuracy – to demonstrate, he fires one at the ocean, creating a tidal wave that sinks a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier group. Savage claims dominion over all the nations of the world. Seeing the broadcast, a Justice League team – The Flash, J'onn J'onzz, and John Stewart head for the space station in the Javelin, but are shot down by the station's defenses. Audrey confronts her husband, calling him a lunatic like his grandfather: Savage chuckles and admits that he's the original Vandal Savage. Audrey says that is impossible, he'd have to be over a century old. Savage smiles and confides that, in fact, he is over 25,000 years old, and has not aged a day since a meteor fell to earth, bathing him (the only one of his prehistoric tribe brave enough to approach it) in a strange radiation that rendered him immortal, and helped him to understand his "destiny": to become the ruler of the world. Audrey, trying hard to maintain her aristocratic poise, reminds him that she is the heir to the Kaznian throne, and Savage rejoins that he has taken advantage of that fact by marrying her, and by poisoning the king. In a rage, Audrey rakes her fingernails across his face, but is stunned to see the scratches healing almost instantaneously, confirming his tale. Savage orders her own guards to drag her away and lock her in her room. In space, Green Lantern's ring has kept J'onn, Flash, and himself safe from the explosion. They board the station and fight to re-take it. On Earth, Batman frees Wonder Woman and, with Audrey's help, they fight their way into the control center, knocking out Savage and his henchman. Vox tries to incapacitate Diana again, but she resists long enough to knock him out, by using Audrey's diamond earrings as impromptu earplugs. Batman knocks Savage out, but not before Savage initiates a meteor strike on America. Neither he nor the team in space are able to prevent the rail gun firing, but Batman is able to change the target to the palace. He hits a fire alarm and uses the palace address system to order an evacuation in Kaznian. While the conscious guards and servants flee, he and Diana evacuate Audrey, the unconscious guards, and the paralyzed King. The asteroid hits, with Savage still inside. In space, the rest of the League evacuates the space station, which then self-destructs. As Diana and Audrey inspect the ruins of the palace, Savage emerges from underneath the rubble, disheveled but completely unharmed, his broken bones snapping back into place. Audrey's guards seize him and drag him away, with Audrey promising that he will pay for his crimes. Vandal taunts her to do her worst, claiming that he can't be killed. She smiles coldly, promising to test his claim to the fullest. Diana teases Batman, saying they never finished their dance. Batman says he doesn't know what she's talking about. She smiles, "If you say so..". but insists that they still go dancing together. Continuity * This episode continues the recurring subplot of the on-again-off-again attraction between Batman and Wonder Woman that began in "The Brave and the Bold". This storyline would continue throughout and into . * When Wonder Woman is mobbed by reporters at the party before the first attempt on Audrey, one of the guests at the party bears a striking resemblance to Vilmos Egans, who appears as Kaznia's Minister of Commerce during the time of , in "Rebirth". * One of the crowd that mobs Wonder Woman inquires about the time she fought the Imperium invasion in "Secret Origins". * Audrey jokes that she won't reveal Diana has "feet of clay", to which Diana responds, "you have no idea". This is a reference to Wonder Woman's comic book origin, that she was animated from clay by her mother instead of being born. Her animated origin is confirmed to be the same as in the comics in the later episode of , "The Balance". * Savage last appeared in "The Savage Time" as a tyrant attempting to lead the Nazis to victory in World War II. * In , "Hawk and Dove", Audrey is still ruling Kaznia as Queen. Whether King Gustav never fully recovered from his poisoning or passed the crown to Audrey is unknown. Background information Home video releases * * Justice League - Season Two (Blu-ray) * Justice League - The Complete Series (DVD) Production inconsistencies * During the robbery, the thief reaches in with his left hand, and pulls his right arm out of the case lid before placing the targeting device in the case. * When trying to discern if Savage was Savage or just a descendant, Diana tells Batman that she brought J'onn in on the case and his findings seemed to indicate the latter. However, in "The Savage Time", Savage openly told J'onn he sent the laptop to himself from the future, and J'onn sees that Savage's future self hasn't aged; so he could have known it was the same person regardless of any "documents" he might have found. Trivia * Superman and Hawkgirl do not appear. * Vandal Savage's origins are the same as in the comics version, except he gives his age as roughly 25,000 years, half what he claims in the comics. Also, he is shown here to have superhuman healing abilities, while in the comics, he has been forced to harvest organs from descendants to keep him alive for some time. * The rail gun mounted on the space station is actually more similar in appearance to a coil gun, which also uses magnetic force to launch a projectile, but uses a series of electromagnetic coils instead of parallel rails. The term "mass driver", which is also used, refers to a cannon used to launch projectiles through or into space. * On the commentary to "Starcrossed", Bruce Timm joked that their version of Batman seems to have a death wish, making reference to this episode. Dwayne McDuffie said this was not necessarily true, since here Batman did leave himself enough time to get out of the palace before the asteroid hit. * Audrey makes a joking reference to the biblical phrase feet of clay from The Book of Daniel, 2:33-45, used to indicate a weakness or a hidden flaw in the character of a respected person: * It is revealed in this episode that Batman can speak fluent Kaznian. Other languages he can speak include Japanese ( , "Day of the Samurai") and Spanish ( , " "). * At the episode's end, Wonder Woman expresses suspicion that Batman is Bruce Wayne. It remains unconfirmed until "Starcrossed". Cast Uncredited appearances * General Wells Quotes References Category:A to Z Category:Justice League episodes